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Kent Walker, Google senior vice president, at a Google event with Goodwill. Google’s transit village plans in downtown San Jose are deemed a game-changer for the city’s economy, yet the search giant has also deployed grants and volunteer efforts in varied quests to make a difference on a far more personal scale.

SAN JOSE — Google’s transit village plans in downtown San Jose are deemed a game-changer for the city’s economy, yet the search giant has also deployed grants and volunteer efforts in varied quests to make a difference on a far more personal scale.

“Many of us, including my family and me, grew up in Santa Clara County and Google has been investing in San Jose before we even started thinking about the mixed-use development at Diridon Station,” said Kent Walker, a senior vice president and chief legal counselor with Google.

The tech titan this month issued three grants, totaling a cumulative $450,000, to bolster separate efforts by a trio of San Jose organizations to tackle the stubborn problem of homelessness in the South Bay from different approaches, according to Google and the three non-profits.

The largest of the grants, totaling $250,000, went to Destination: Home.

“Google values the data-informed approach of the Homelessness Prevention System, and the opportunity to measure their impact,” said Jennifer Loving, chief executive officer of Destination : Home.

A $100,000 grant went to PATH, or People Assisting the Homeless, while the another $100,000 went to Downtown Streets Team, Google and the recipient organizations stated.

These grants come on the heels of Google’s volunteer efforts with Goodwill in San Jose, activities that included providing Goodwill clients with suggestions on preparing resumes as well as conducting practice job interviews.

The philanthropy also arrives at a time when Google has faced skepticism and criticism from some groups such as Silicon Valley Rising regarding the impact the company’s proposed transit-oriented development might have on San Jose and its downtown.

“In the last four years, Google.org has invested more than $14 million through grants, volunteer hours and other philanthropic projects,” Walker said.

In an October 2017 blog post, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai announced a widening philanthropic push that was jump-started by the big donation to Goodwill.

“We’re committing to give $1 billion to front-line organizations,” Pichai wrote, that are using innovative ways to address skills gaps and opportunity gaps for people trying to land new jobs. The commitment covers a five-year period.

In connection with Goodwill, Google also committed to having 1,000 Google volunteers help 1.2 million people with digital skills and career opportunities in all 156 U.S. Goodwill sites over the next three years.

“Google.org will use its philanthropic expertise to fund organizations working in three areas: closing the world’s education gap, helping people prepare for the changing nature of work, and ensuring that no one is excluded from opportunity,” Pichai wrote in the blog post.

Mountain View-based Google’s most recent efforts in San Jose have a focus on the homeless problem in the Bay Area’s largest city.

The grant to Downtown Streets Team will allow the DST organization to provide more case management, job skills and connections to employers for homeless people in San Jose.

“Google has been one of the first corporate sponsors that have had a venture philosophy in supporting impactful solutions, like DST,” said Eileen Richardson, chief executive officer of Downtown Streets Team.

The tech titan’s grant to PATH San Jose will support the organization’s efforts to provide housing for homeless people.

“To solve this crisis it will take a team of not-for-profits, community leaders and businesses like Google to work together to develop affordable housing,” said Joel John Roberts, PATH chief executive officer.

San Jose officials endorsed the PATH focus on the downtown area.

“Google continues to demonstrate its corporate ethos of giving through its support of PATH and their ground-breaking work to enable critically needed housing and services for our downtown’s most vulnerable residents,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said.

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